MPs are considering plans that would allow anti-abortion organisations to offer publicly funded pregnancy counselling services, despite the defeat of similar proposals in a parliamentary vote last year.

A cross-party group of MPs, set up by the public health minister Anne Milton after last September's vote against proposals by the Tory MP Nadine Dorries, is looking at plans that could give anti-abortion groups an official role.

The MPs have been presented with three policy options, a recent draft of which has been seen by the Guardian.

One option is to make no change while another resembles Dorries' original proposals, which would have prevented abortion providers such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) from providing counselling services.

It is understood, however, that most discussions are focusing on an option that would create a register of counsellors eligible to tender for pregnancy counselling – including anti-abortion organisations.

This would continue to allow abortion providers to carry out counselling, but would also allow other groups to become involved. They may also be required to make clear to clients any ethical stance they held on abortion.

The move has been criticised by pro-choice organisations, who say the government is trying to introduce radical changes to abortion laws by the back door.

Clare Murphy from BPAS said: "There was a major discussion about pregnancy counselling last year and a comprehensive defeat of these campaigners in parliament. It seems extraordinary to then turn around and effectively say: 'It doesn't matter that this has been talked about and voted on. We're going to do it anyway.'"

The cross-party group was set up after the government said it would look at ways of incorporating the spirit of Dorries' proposals into new regulations.

Last month, the shadow health minister Diane Abbott walked out, claiming the group was a front to push an anti-abortion agenda without debate in parliament.

The group also includes Dorries and the Labour MP Frank Field, who initially supported her parliamentary proposal, as well as the anti-abortion Tory MPs Stewart Jackson, Fiona Bruce and Louise Mensch. Others include the pro-choice Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert and Lady Gould, also a strong supporter of a woman's right to choose.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "These meetings have been constructive and are progressing well. We expect to publish a consultation in the spring, which will last for 12 weeks."

One group member said Dorries had opposed most of the favoured option, particularly the idea that counsellors should clearly state their views on abortion.

Dorries told the Guardian that the consultation would give everyone an opportunity to contribute. "I am particularly keen to hear the voices of those women who have been actually been through the abortion process as opposed to those which are ideologically biased either as pro-choice or pro-life," she said.

"Whichever option is decided upon following the consultation, this is about choice. Making an offer of counselling which will in no way restrict or delay access is about providing women with greater choice, particularly for the most vulnerable women."

The policy proposals before the committee argue that retaining current arrangements would mean the continuation of a "postcode lottery", with variations in access to counselling depending on where a woman lives and a lack of minimum standards or training.

This was rejected by Dr Evan Harris, vice-chair of the Liberal Democrat federal policy committee and pro-choice campaigner, who said that there was no evidence of failure of counsellors based in abortion providers to meet the existing quality standards.

"Allowing non-evidence-based practice to be introduced is guaranteed to produce unacceptable variations in quality," he said.

"You cannot have a situation where commissioners signpost, or doctors refer, vulnerable woman to organisations, or otherwise, who do not agree to abide by evidence-based practice, even if they are made to declare their political stance."

Darinka Aleksic, campaign co-ordinator for Abortion Rights, said the proposed registration scheme for counsellors would pave the way for NHS funding to go to organisations opposed to abortion and with a track record of providing judgmental and inaccurate advice to women considering the procedure.

"Far from ensuring consistency in the type and standard of advice women receive, it will in fact create a postcode lottery. In some areas women will have access to high-quality medically accurate advice from specialist abortion providers as they do now. In others, they risk being misled and delayed by anti-choice outfits. In effect, the proposal is playing russian roulette with women's health."

Tracey McNeill, director of UK and Europe at Marie Stopes, said the organisation was looking forward to sharing its "thoughts and expertise once the consultation is opened".

McNeill said the current system offered women "access to impartial, non-directive and expert support from trained counsellors, if they decide they want it".

She added: "We simply don't believe that organisations whose own publications describe abortion as 'a most grievous sin' can provide impartial pregnancy counselling to women. The counsellors we work with support women to explore their feelings around pregnancy and all of the options open to them in a non-judgmental way."

Julie Bentley, chief executive of the sexual health charity FPA said: "The current system of counselling works and there isn't any solid evidence to justify a change.

"Unfortunately, counselling services aren't the only thing subject to a postcode lottery. In contraception and abortion services too, what's being offered and where it's available also changes from area to area, and women across the UK needing these services are confronted with that every day. So it's difficult to see why tackling a postcode lottery in counselling should be prioritised over improving contraception services, which are actually there to prevent unplanned pregnancies occurring in the first place."